Hi,

I got an itch to refinish a 1980's 99 buttstock and forearm. I have been stripping the buttstock in place but I will need to remove it so as not to get chemicals all over the metal and in the cracks. Is removing the buttstock as simple as removing the screw behind the buttplate? Is forearm removal simple as well? I plan to do any sanding with the parts re-attached so I don't round corners.

Has anyone out there refinished a stock? I have read to use stripper and to avoid sanding, but the stain is in the grain and it appears I will have to sand it after using stripper no matter what. Given how slow and tedious the stripping has gone I was wondering why not just sand it off, with care?

Thanks for the advice,

Bob

1. Definitely remove the wood from the gun

2, For your first refinishing job, I suggest you look into
a 'kit' offered by Tru Oil. It will contain instructions
and materials.

The wood comes off the metal real easy.
As far as the "stain" being stuck in the grain, it sounds like you need a stronger stripper. Try an aerosol stripper and rinse with denatured alcohol or lacquer solvent. A fine bristle stripping brush will help too.

Tim

A little sanding will be necessary, but make it VERY little. You do not want to remove any wood along any edge.. zero, nada, none. I redid one 99E because it was already toast, and it was educational. There was a good writeup by Weagle that I followed.. I'll see if I can't search it out, probably too old now to find on a search but I'll try.

Aha, you're in luck.. try out this thread.


http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/407622/page/0/fpart/1

Definitely, Weagle's thread will tell you what you need to know. And please, remove that wood!

thanks for the responses. it turns out that home depot sold me a "refinisher" not a stripper. that explains a lot.

it also turns out that what i thought was birch through a cheap furniture like finish(reddish and ugly, 1980s...) appears to be walnut.

if only it didn't have any checkering, stamped or otherwise.

my next steps are sanding and finishing with true oil. is there a filler i should be using as well?

thanks again.

by the way, I have learned that before buying a used gun take off the buttplate to look for cracks. finish can hide cracks very well.

Cal,

Thanks for finding that one. That one needs saving. Didn't do it first time around.

It should be against the law to even allow gunstocks & sandpaper in the same room together.

Mike

dog, There's a couple of good threads on the Gunsmithing Board.
Look for Tru-Oil and Varathane. Follow Sitka Deer's advice

Gotta agree with that. Unless the wood is really jacked up, theres no reason to sandpaper it.

Tim

from my experience, stripper doesn't remove all the finish. what would use instead of sandpaper?? i am not even sure if sanding gets finish out of spots where it has penetrated deeply.

personally, i think, the worst thing one can do to a gun is to checker it. I've never had an issue with dropping my uncheckered guns. why mar beautiful wood?

dog

In the link ealier, weagle used Citri-strip, then wrapped the stock in foil to hold the stripper in place. Several members have used that method, and it seems to work well. You need to rince the stock afterwards to remove the Citri-strip.

i have sanded the stock with 100 grit and I am not convinced all the stain has been removed. there are dark places that I think might just be the wood's natural color, but then I sand it and it comes off. I am now stripping it again in attempt to remove more finish. maybe the wood is really porous.

Thanks for the help.

Bob

You're on the right track, just go easy with the sandpaper...I wouldn't use the 100-grit anymore, just light final sanding with finer grits.

You will likely not be able to remove every last trace of the original finish, especially where it's deep in the pores, without aggressive sanding...which you don't want to do. But once you apply the new finish, you won't be able to tell anyway.

Conclusion: I thought this early on in the process, but forgot.
I believe the stock was not only stained reddish-brown but it was also scorched, like someone swiped it with a blowtorch to thinking dark swaths would look cool (1980s...stone washed jeans...). Stripper won't remove scorch marks, thus I did a lot of sanding. I didn't sand it all off lest I widdle it down to nothing.

Next step, true oil. Hopefully it will hide what remains.

WILL COLD BLUE HIDE SCRATCHES?

Thanks,

Bob/dog

No. The only way to make a scratch go away is to buff it out. If its a deep scratch you may have to get more aggressive and draw file it out. The only thing cold blue, or hot blue for that matter, will do is blue the metal laid bare by the scratch. That in turn makes it obvious that someone covered up a scratch with blue.

I'm starting to think you ought to jack up the sight and run a different rat under it.

I am in the process of true oiling the stock. If I am not too embarassed by the outcome I'll post an image.

Thanks for all the input,

bob/dog